The scoreboard has been lopsided, the offense has been ruthless, and Georgia’s first two games have done exactly what they were supposed to do: clear the runway before the real work begins.
Now comes SEC play, and Kirby Smart made it clear Saturday night after Georgia’s 70-20 win over Western Kentucky that the mood inside the program is shifting fast. The No. 2 Bulldogs opened with a 63-3 win over Tennessee State, then followed it with another runaway, but next week’s trip to Arkansas changes the temperature.
"On to the SEC league now, and it's just a different league," he said. "You play in this league on the road over the years that I have and coached, it's a different environment.
Every game is really hard - especially on the road, especially the first one. So with that, we'll be focusing on Arkansas moving forward."
If Georgia’s offense has been the headline, Gunner Stockton has been the face of it. He hasn’t needed to play deep into either game because the Bulldogs haven’t needed him to.
Still, when he’s been on the field, he’s been almost spotless. Against Tennessee State, he went 15 of 16 for 202 yards and three touchdowns.
Against Western Kentucky, he was even sharper in some ways, completing 13 of 16 passes for 234 yards and five touchdowns, matching a school record.
"It feels good. You always want to execute at the end of the day and just do your job," Stockton said of his play against Western Kentucky.
The ball has been flying all over the field, and that’s not an accident. Georgia has spread the production around instead of leaning on one star target.
Fifteen Bulldogs caught passes against Tennessee State, and five of them scored touchdowns. Against Western Kentucky, 11 players had receptions, and five different Bulldogs found the end zone through the air, including Sacovie White-Helton on a 70-yard strike in the second quarter.
Smart had plenty to say about that one.
"Yeah, the throw and the decision by Gunner was great. It was elite," Smart said of the 70-yard touchdown.
"The catch by Sacovie, using all his hands and not his body, was really big. And then his burst, you know, to split the safeties and go make a play.
So it was really nice protection and a really nice decision. Great catch and run after the catch."
That kind of balance is how Georgia wants it. Smart said the wide-open distribution is part of the offense’s design.
"Everybody wants a 1,000-yard receiver and this and that, but we spread the wealth," he said. "That's the way the offense is built, and it's a good thing."
Through two games, Talyn Taylor leads the team with five catches for 59 yards and two touchdowns. White-Helton has four catches for 104 yards, Craig Dandridge Jr. has four for 92, and Chauncey Bowens has four receptions for 77 yards. One of Bowens’ best moments Saturday came when he hurdled a defender at the goal line on a 21-yard play.
"That was nice," Stockton said of Bowens' leap. "That was like a video game hurdle."
The ground game has been quieter than the passing numbers, but it has still done damage. Nate Frazier touched the ball four times in the opener and scored three touchdowns.
He added another against Western Kentucky and goes into SEC play with just 10 carries for 127 yards and four touchdowns. Bowens has five carries for 28 yards to go with his receiving work.
Georgia’s defense hasn’t been forced into a heavy workload yet, but it has still been dominant in stretches. Across the first half of both games, the Bulldogs have allowed only nine points.
At halftime Saturday, Western Kentucky had 63 yards on 35 plays. Georgia finished with 15 tackles for loss and five sacks.
The defense even got on the scoreboard. Blake Stewart intercepted a pass that went off Terrell Foster’s hands and took off the other way. He was stripped from behind near the WKU 15, the ball rolled toward the end zone, and Tyriq Green dove on it just before it went through the back for a touchback, turning the sequence into a touchdown.
"He never quit," Smart said of Green on the play. "He was the backside safety.
He kept chasing. It was a hustle play that he made."
Green added another big moment later, returning a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Georgia didn’t need those extra points to handle its first two opponents, but they were there anyway. And with Arkansas up next, every part of the Bulldogs’ operation is about to matter a lot more.
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